Wifi and haunted islands?
For the past four days Rebecca and I have been anchored by Waupoos on Prince Edward County (“the County” to the locals). It’s a beautiful area with dozens of vineyards and wineries. Although the weather hasn’t been great, we were able to get to shore and tour the county with some friends of ours (thanks T and Dave).
One thing that the area does not have going for it though is decent cel service. In fact, this is one of the few places that I have been to in recent years where we can’t consistently get service. And along with a lack of cel service came a lack of internet access as the internal antenna in our laptop wasn’t strong enough to pick up any wifi signals.
So how then am I posting this? Currently connected to our laptop is a N3 long-range wifi adapter. I’ve had this for a while and although I break it out on occasion, I haven’t really needed it and when I have, I haven’t found any open (unsecured) networks. Right now though I have the adapter hanging from one of the bimini supports and have it connected to this laptop with a USB extension cord. Although it is still only pulling in a couple of networks, it is allowing me to connect to one, and one is all it takes! My intention is to buy a much better antenna for the unit and see how it works then. Hopefully that will improve our ability to get wifi signals even more.
- Edit October 7, 2012: Check this page for more current info on how we access the internet.
So what about the haunted island? I don’t want to start any rumors but late yesterday afternoon Rebecca and I took the dinghy over to Waupoos Island to explore a bit. Our greeting to the island came at the hands of a scary-looking rabbit statue. Yes, the name Waupoos I am told means running rabbit but the statue is scary!
Rebecca has a thing against clowns and this was very clown-like.
What is that red stuff on his hands???
After making it past the rabbit we toured the island a far as the “road” would allow. We saw sheep, goats, birds and lots of empty buildings* but no people. Not one! This was a fairly strange walk as the road appears to go right through people’s front yards. I kept waiting for someone to come out and say something but as I mentioned, we saw no one. To us this just seemed a bit too much like the beginning of a bad horror movie!
Walking along the “road.”
No Rebecca, you don’t have to exercise everywhere we go!
Someone had to carry the pack!
Is that sheep giving us the “brown eye?”
One of many empty buildings. Spooky, even in the daytime!
Heading home. Quickly. 🙂
*Google tells us that the empty buildings were in fact cottages.
Mike, I see that you are the designated “pack animal”.
I needed the exercise more. 🙂
Ooooooh, thanks for the link. We got the Engenius antenna, which is great, but it isn’t compatible with my Mac.
You’re welcome Maggie.
“Is that sheep giving us the “brown eye?””
Ewe….
I’m know I know, I’m so puny.
🙂
It used to be used as a religious retreat. I believe you will find those to be occupied during the summer. Half the island is owned by the sheep farmer, and the other half by some church group. L
Who is responsible for the scary rabbit? The church group or the sheep farmers?
See the advantages of living aboard? You haven’t left Canada and you’ve already found a deseerted island! 🙂 (The rabbit doesn’t count.)
Hope we don’t find a rabbit like that on every island!
Mike,
What you need is a cantenna. I’ve built many of them. I looked at the specs for your N3 adapter. Ok power amplifier, but the 2 db antenna is junk. My cantennas and ones you can buy typically have a 18-22 dbi increase in signal stregnth. The other great thing about a cantenna is two-fold. It is directional…offering rejection by attenuation of signals not in the 35-45 deg axis from the front opening..unlike the N3 antenna which is omni-directional. Your N3 has the typical Rp-SMA connector (reverse polarity – make is a female ). So you could pipe the cantenna antenna into the N3 box!
Thanks Douglas. I have read references to cantennas but have not done any real research onto them. Do you have any links that you would recommend? I will do a google search if not.
Mike,
All the ones I found were not of my “qualifications”. They were not full wavelegnth and the diameters were too skinny. I am a over-achiever I guess
I built my own and would gladly assist you if you wanted to try it also. I get a extra-satisfaction of doing it myself.
I have a calculator for the needed measurements. If you give me a email address, I will send it.
Items you will need to start:
Two Campbell soup cans (Mine were Cream of Broccoli). These are the large “Chef’s Kettle” cans (a little over 4 inches in diameter and 7 inches long).
If your interested, I will put together a How-To for you with all the parts list.
That would be EXCELLENT. Thank you!
Our email is zero to cruising ATT gmail DOTT com
🙂
In your inbox
Gracias!
De nada
Hi All,
A little info on the Rabbit on Waupoos.. The rabbit was created by my good friend Don. He was an enrolled in the Oblates of Mary Immaculate formation program on Waupoos island as a young man in the late 1960 s. (ie. the old buildings, and the church group.) I tried to go to Waupoos in 2004 with Dons son to take a photo with the big rabbit, but we were denyed access, as the island was now privately owned, and the ferry was also private, and crossing was by invitation only. Don only has a modest painting of his creation as a memory now.
Hi Richard. Hmmm… we didn’t know that the island was private. We just took our dinghies across and no one said anything.
Anyway, I uploaded a larger photo of the rabbit for you. Feel free to pass on the link to the sculptor’s son. 🙂
http://www.zerotocruising.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/rabbit.jpg